Monthly Archives: February 2016

One of my favorite ways to stay warm during the winter is to curl up on my couch with a blanket and a nice, warm bowl of soup. Usually after a busy day, though, I want to come home and relax, not cook. That’s why I was thrilled when I found this crockpot baked potato soup recipe.

With Spring Break right around the corner, many students are planning what they hope will be their best college trip so far. Typically when you think of spring break, you think Panama City Beach in Florida, where you can get all the sun, drinks and crazy memories that your friends will never let you live down. Unfortunately, the problem that many college students face is the price that big spring break trips can cost.

Just when February decided to get cold again, the Crow Chateau, a local house that hosts live music shows, swept in to warm up the wonderful people of Athens with groovy tunes and happy vibes. Students, townies and wary travelers alike trudged through the snowstorm Friday Feb. 12, all the way past Arts West to the hottest house on West State for a night of music. Acts included Mild Movements, Waivada and the man who organized most of the night, Kashmerik.

As the New Year settles in, Mother Nature continues to shake things up with dangerous snowstorms. These drastic changes in weather have caused many issues for the American Red Cross’ efforts to collect blood. On Jan. 11, the American Red Cross sent out a press release stating they were in “urgent need” for blood. Due to a low supply of blood, an increase in donations are necessary in order to avoid a negative impact on patient care. According to the official Red Cross website, the urgent need was due to 1,700 fewer blood drives held in November and December across the country, resulting in 50,000 fewer donations. Continue reading The American Red Cross Faces Emergency Drop in Blood→

Imagine that you hear about a great party going on tonight — you’re pretty excited for it, and spend an hour jamming out to pump up tunes and getting ready. You start to head out the door, and fear sets in. What if you say something foolish? What if people don’t like your outfit? What if something goes wrong? Suddenly you’re in a panic, and decide that it’s best if you stay in for the night, convincing yourself that you didn’t really want to go anyway. This is a simplified picture of what those with social anxiety can face.

An avocado a day, keeps the doctor away! It’s not quite the right saying, but avocados do offer many health benefits. I’ve been obsessing over this buttery, green fruit (yes, it is a fruit) recently and including them in my meals whenever possible. I was playing around with ingredients when I concocted what is now one of my favorite meals—the avocado, chicken and rice bowl.

Ping offers a variety of free group fitness classes for students to try. Source: Miranda Vandagriff

Need someone to yell at you to actually make you workout? Sadly, I do. This semester, I started to go to Ohio University’s fitness center, Ping, religiously and group fitness is the only way I get anything done. From tighten and tone to yoga, I have enjoyed some classes and dreaded others. If you’re thinking about trying out a work out class, here are some choices to consider:

#ShirtlessShamers2016, which was thought of by Twitter activist @CardsAgstHrsmt, called attention to a double standard of selfie posts. Source: Megan Shüirmann via Flickr

Last year, #FreeTheNipple was a hot topic and this year has started off with a similar trend. Twenty nine-year-old Twitter feminist, Lindsey, began calling out other Twitter users with the hashtag #ShirtlessShamers2016 for their body shaming tweets about women on social media this January.

Looking for some fancy Valentine’s Day sweets for your sweetheart? Well, look no further. This DIY recipe will show you how to transform an everyday cake into easily sharable cake pops dipped in white chocolate. It’s guaranteed to make any sweet tooth’s mouth water. A bonus: you can easily wrap them up as individual cake pops to pass out to friends and family as your “Valentine’s Day cards.” And if you’re not a fan of red velvet cake, you can opt for pink velvet cake (white cake with pink coloring) instead.

Cue the pink and red palette onslaught. It’s that time again: when over-priced boxes of chocolate fill the shelves as far as the eye can see, and creepy pink and red heart-covered bears sing you songs that are supposed to give you the ‘warm fuzzies.’ But for all those who have trouble stomaching those ‘warm fuzzies,’ here are five alternative sweet treat Valentine’s ideas that may be a little easier to digest.